The Reason for the Beard

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

One of my favorite segments of Forrest Gump is when Mr. Gump leaves his front porch on a journey “for no particular reason”. Forrest spent his life changing people (Elvis Presley, 2 Presidents, and Coach Bear Bryant to name a few), but it wasn’t until he took off runnin’ that people began to follow him in droves. Why did they do that? What was the allure to a below-average intelligent man from Alabama who just ran? Dedication. Here is the clip to refresh your memory:

Call it crazy, call it genius, call it what you will. The man was dedicated to something and went after it more than anything else. That kind of fanatical dedication is contagious. People want to know why. People want to know how. People want that in their lives.

I stopped cutting the hair on my face August 5, 2013. I cut it for the first time November 29, 2013. For 116 days I grew a beard. Much like Mr. Gump, I wasn’t sure why at the beginning. Much like Mr., Gump, people took notice after a while and started wondering why I did it. Once I cut the beard, people wondered why I just stopped.

God, in his supreme wisdom, had a plan for my beard. He wanted to teach me this lesson with it, so it’d be rude to keep it to myself. Dedication is contagious, and if you’re zealous enough about it, people will follow. If I can grow a beard for 116 days (and give my beautiful wife the patience to love me in spite of my whiskers), how much greater would my light shine if I served like Christ with such unwavering dedication.

Here are some other dedicated verses by/about dedicated people:

Leviticus 27:28. Devotion comes from the LORD.

1 Samuel 1: A mother’s word.

Jeremiah 29:13-14. With all your heart. 

Philippians 4:13. I can do it all through him.

2 Timothy 4:7-8. Paul’s farewell address.

Like everything I do, I grew my beard in the name of Jesus for His glory. The reason is a mystery to me no more. The year is ending; a new year is coming. Find something in your life to teach you dedication, and watch what God will teach you.

Whilst I was gone...

Psalm 118

• Got engaged to the most awesome beautiful woman in the world.
• Bought a house. (almost)
• Survived my first season coaching baseball. (and drastically improved my fungo skills)
• Watched eldest brother pull off a 4.0 taking 18 hours in his first spring semester. Wow.
• Went to the coldest professional sporting event I've ever attended. And it was a baseball game.
• Ate 5 hot dogs and 3 chicken sandwiches too.
• Paid for a sweet honeymoon. 
• Got a new cell phone that isn't broken!
• Survived the spring wave of STAAR and TAKS assessments.
• Got a CDL to drive a bus.
• Played many Sporcle quizzes.
• Overwhelmed with gifts at wedding showers.
• Spent an amazing bachelor weekend hunting, fishing, and fellowshipping with great friends. 
•  Learned better to let go and let God handle everything (especially money). 
• Learned better to be gentle with my communication to students and to almost wives. 
• Learned better to listen to the older people in your life, and to give generously when I'm one of the older people. 

It is unbelievably believable how well God will work in a man's life once He's given complete and total control over it. Coming up in the very near future....(Lord willing of course, unless Jesus wants to come back)

• Marriage!
• Honeymoon!
• Hay fields!
• Summer workouts!
• Church camp!
• Football

What will God teach me this summer? What will he do with the new family he is building and challenging me to lead? Stay tuned.

Football Post Season Review 2012

Things learned:

1. Negativity on the sidelines is not okay.
2. Yelling at referees is also not okay. 
3. Taking good care of coaches/players with gear is a very good thing.
4. Kids will be extra excited about playoff games, and will lose focus on their job.
5. Special Teams is 1/3 of the game, field position is a big deal.
6. Turnovers are a necessity on defense and never need to happen on offense.
7. Mixing odd/even man fronts confuses offensive lines. 
8. Coaches are a tight knit group. 
9. Clean locker rooms and strict stretch routines are good for discipline. 
10. I have the best job a man could ever ask for.

Irresponsibility

Part of dedicating my life to the education and service of teens is teaching them to be responsible. So far this week, both the football team I coach and the students I teach have shown me the incredible depth of their irresponsibility. Tough love is tough on all parties involved, and neither group is going to be happy with the consequences for their actions.

This can be very frustrating. But then God reminds me that I treat him the exact same way, and change my tune from frustration to patience. Sure there were 33 freshman failing at least 1 class as of 10:37 Wednesday morning. And there might only be 5 groups present their projects to the class today out of 27 total groups. Excuses will fly. Blame will be tossed to and fro. Grades will suffer. Students will learn responsibility.

It is easy to slack off and reward people for doing what is expected of them because doing what is expected is so rare these days. Have a higher standard than that. Don't reward just doing right, reward doing above and beyond right. And do not let less than right be okay.

And hope some day some of them figure it out.

Homework Tradition

Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid. 

Nobody ever likes to do it, some people refuse to do it/don't have time for it, and even the people assigning it have to deal with extra work from it. I had my fare (pun intended) share of homework when I was in school. I didn't enjoy any of it, but I completed it because I had a situation at home that was conducive towards homework completion. Many of my students today do not. So I do not give homework if at all possible. I know there are circumstances (especially in math) when students need extra practice and must get a little work done outside of class in order to master content. But I believe homework should be the anomaly, not the norm.


As a teacher, I am trying to mold the minds of students to become better people. I am much more concerned with their well-being than their content mastery. I am not convinced this is completely right, but it is what I am most passionate about. Part of this teaching I think includes leaving school work at school and home things at home. My students need to understand their responsibility in their family is just as important as school. I want them to be able to leave work at work some day and come home and enjoy their spouse and children and leave the worries of work where they belong, at work.


I don't want to be the type of husband and father who is always working and having to bring his wife and kids to the office to enjoy time with them. So I am doing what I can now to make sure I set myself up for that sort of lifestyle. I want the same thing for the students I teach, so I will design my instruction accordingly.


The analogy from this 11 year old may be a little bit extreme, but I am thinking a little more like him than some teachers think is proper or plausible.

No Time to Breathe

Wow I am busy. Barely keeping my teaching head above water and trying to finagle my finances to last for 13 more days. It sure is fun when life is rough though and God placed a great group of friends, family, mentors, and an amazing best friend and girlfriend to help me through. No more time to type, sorry.

Free Agency

72 hours ago, I had no idea what my future was going to be or if I would have a high school coaching job by August 1st. But apparently last Friday morning was the beginning of the Coach free agency period, and things have been moving fast and furious since then. The Springtown Porcupines happened to have an opening, so I called their principal Friday morning (who happens to be a lifelong family friend, distant relative, and my Geography teacher) to investigate. In a span of about 15 minutes, I went from no serious job prospects, to one very interested athletic director.

I met and talked with him Friday, and the prospect of working there so close to family and girlfriend, for a family friend, living decently cheap, and coaching with good people is looking really hard to pass up.

9:00 Saturday night rolls around and a coach from a bigger school in my favorite area of Texas calls and further complicates matters. Georgetown is the place. More money and a bigger school and the most beautiful part of the best country in the world is the intrigue. I will go there Wednesday for an interview.

Now all the other people who have given me some "we may have to move some people around" or "maybe we can find you a spot" are telling me to stall and take it easy and give them time to put together an offer. No wonder LeBron made his "The Decision" a 2 hour ESPN special, it is a great feeling to know so many different people want you.

In the last 48 hours I have been in contact in some way with coaches/principals from the following schools:

Springtown
Georgetown
Hallsville
Decatur
Jim Ned
Midlothian
Abilene Christian

Insanity. I am just so glad God made me wash dirty laundry and eat humble pie almost daily for 5 years before he gave me this kind of an opportunity. Because now instead of singing my own praises of my own awesomeness, I am pointing it straight to the source: My parents and my God.

It is a great feeling to be wanted by all these different schools full of great people and great opportunity. But it is an even greater feeling that I know Someone that loved me before I was even born, and has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future.

This time next week I will have probably made a decision and accepted a job and taken the next step in my life's journey. Whoa. The coolest thing is, God will bless whichever decision I make.